Service Diagnostic Fee

[574jeeprider]

Hello all!

I took my 2022 Mojave into Lochmandy Motors in Elkhart, Indiana for a warranty inspection. Told them there was a lot of dead play in my steering wheel when driving and while it is in there could they inspect the driver's side shock and tie rod end for premature wear (heard some clicking when driving). The scheduler assured me there would be no charge for this. I do have an aftermarket bumper and apex swaybar quick disconnects. When I arrived there, the check-in gal said there may be a $150 diag fee, which I told her in no way do I agree to pay said fee. Got a call mid day from her saying they can't find anything wrong with the steering slop and the clicking was from the apex disconnects and they wanted me to come drive it with the tech. I showed the tech the issue and told him it was doing this since day one when I drove it home and it's a steering box adjustment that was done poorly from the factory. He agreed to take another look at it. He decided he didn't feel comfortable making an adjustment but would send pics of my disconnects and bumper to Chrysler and see if they would warranty a new steering box, and then they tried to get me to pay the $150 fee. Moral of the story, if you have ANY aftermarket parts and try for warranty work at this dealership, good luck!!

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[Zachanadandy]

The diagnostic fee is standard when they don't find any warranty work to be done. Steering slop is subjective and it's not like there's a spec for them to say X amount is too much and needs addressed. Taking that out of the equation, you also had then check for premature wear that turned out to be aftermarket parts causing the noise. If there's no warranty work to be done, they don't get paid. Are they supposed to road test everyone's vehicle and let them know how their aftermarket disconnects sound for free? The diagnostic fee gets waived if there's a warranty issue as then stellantis pays for it. It's standard at every dealer from every make I've ever taken a vehicle to.

 

[LouisvEarlleJT]

A few thoughts;

-A diagnostic fee is typically paid when nothing is found to be wrong, if there actually is an issue then it all falls under the umbrella of warranty. This isn’t unusual and isn’t worth getting your blood pressure up over.

-The warranty covers the original parts. It’s been discussed here before that if aftermarket parts are interacting with OEM then it can be expected that dealerships may not want to mess with them unless it’s put back to OEM.

-If it did it since day one then why didn’t you take it back on day 2?

 

[HooliganActual]

Just one add to everything above that I agree with:

The Diagnostic Fee doesn't just apply to warranty work. It's the same if you take a vehicle in that is outside of warranty. They will charge a diagnostic fee which is only "waived" when you authorize them to do the repair work (which really means that the diagnostic fee isn't waived, it's just baked into the price of the repair.)

Pretty standard stuff in my 40 years of owning cars...

 

[574jeeprider]

A few thoughts;

-A diagnostic fee is typically paid when nothing is found to be wrong, if there actually is an issue then it all falls under the umbrella of warranty. This isn’t unusual and isn’t worth getting your blood pressure up over.

-The warranty covers the original parts. It’s been discussed here before that if aftermarket parts are interacting with OEM then it can be expected that dealerships may not want to mess with them unless it’s put back to OEM.

-If it did it since day one then why didn’t you take it back on day 2?

This being my first jeep and first time on 33's, I thought it was just part of the nature of the beast with larger tires, until I talked to a few other Gladiator owners who do not have this issue. I had mentioned it to the dealer before during a free oil change if they could check it and when I picked it up they said nothing was wrong that it was fine. I tried to get them to look it up on my paperwork, as that was done before any mods were done, but they could not find it in any notes. And then I found this youtube video that explains the issue and the fix, so I thought I would get them to adjust it.

 

[574jeeprider]

Just one add to everything above that I agree with:

The Diagnostic Fee doesn't just apply to warranty work. It's the same if you take a vehicle in that is outside of warranty. They will charge a diagnostic fee which is only "waived" when you authorize them to do the repair work (which really means that the diagnostic fee isn't waived, it's just baked into the price of the repair.)

Pretty standard stuff in my 40 years of owning cars...

All the shops I've ever dealt with will gladly do a free inspection hoping to find something to charge you for. I guess I need to just go to those free places first, then go to the dealership for warranty work. smh. And I've owned cars for over 30 years too, but I do most of the work myself. I guess I'm learning the ways of dealerships and warranties.

 

[HooliganActual]

All the shops I've ever dealt with will gladly do a free inspection hoping to find something to charge you for. I guess I need to just go to those free places first, then go to the dealership for warranty work. smh. And I've owned cars for over 30 years too, but I do most of the work myself. I guess I'm learning the ways of dealerships and warranties.

Yeah, it's been my experience that dealerships have a different business model compared to independent shops. Think about the customer base that each deals with.

Independent shops tend do work on a wider range of vehicles because they don't have a "captive" customer base, and generally their customer base depends a lot on word of mouth. So, they tend to (but not always) have better customer service and will do things like the free inspection.

Dealerships on the other hand have a captive audience. If I look at my dad, who is in his 80's as an example, he needed a nail removed from a tire in his Honda Ridgeline. He will drive past a dozen tire shops to take it to the Honda dealer and they really don't even want to do that kind of work. Dealerships (IMHO) want customers who believe that the dealership is the only one who has the requisite knowledge and special skill to do the work. They also generally like customers that don't know anything about the work that needs to be done.

They don't like customers like me: I religiously take my 3 Jeeps in for oil changes (2 are actually out of warranty) so that they will do the various inspections. I always schedule the first "appointment" in the morning which will come into play as the story finishes. So, for $70 (which is what I believe my last oil change cost on my 2016 JKUR), I get a list of recommended service items and things that need to be repaired/replaced. For fun I will argue with the service advisor about the prices (such as the ridiculous fee to replace the cabin filter or air intake filter) and about the fact that I never saw the tech open up the passenger side door or open the intake air filter box (so how the f@#* does he know it needs to be replaced) and then I stop into one of the dozen auto part stores that I have to pass on the way home and pick up whatever bits and bobs I need to do the recommended service with what's left of my day.

I should also note for the record that I am:
a) knowledgeable enough to do all said inspections on my own vehicle, but
b) can be a bit lazy at times...lol
It doesn't hurt to have a second set of eyes on things every once in a while.

 

[574jeeprider]

Yeah, it's been my experience that dealerships have a different business model compared to independent shops. Think about the customer base that each deals with.

Independent shops tend do work on a wider range of vehicles because they don't have a "captive" customer base, and generally their customer base depends a lot on word of mouth. So, they tend to (but not always) have better customer service and will do things like the free inspection.

Dealerships on the other hand have a captive audience. If I look at my dad, who is in his 80's as an example, he needed a nail removed from a tire in his Honda Ridgeline. He will drive past a dozen tire shops to take it to the Honda dealer and they really don't even want to do that kind of work. Dealerships (IMHO) want customers who believe that the dealership is the only one who has the requisite knowledge and special skill to do the work. They also generally like customers that don't know anything about the work that needs to be done.

They don't like customers like me: I religiously take my 3 Jeeps in for oil changes (2 are actually out of warranty) so that they will do the various inspections. I always schedule the first "appointment" in the morning which will come into play as the story finishes. So, for $70 (which is what I believe my last oil change cost on my 2016 JKUR), I get a list of recommended service items and things that need to be repaired/replaced. For fun I will argue with the service advisor about the prices (such as the ridiculous fee to replace the cabin filter or air intake filter) and about the fact that I never saw the tech open up the passenger side door or open the intake air filter box (so how the f@#* does he know it needs to be replaced) and then I stop into one of the dozen auto part stores that I have to pass on the way home and pick up whatever bits and bobs I need to do the recommended service with what's left of my day.

I should also note for the record that I am:
a) knowledgeable enough to do all said inspections on my own vehicle, but
b) can be a bit lazy at times...lol
It doesn't hurt to have a second set of eyes on things every once in a while.

Very well said! I'm about the same way. I would've just made the adjustment myself after watching the YT video, but I thought so long as it was under warranty, let them deal with it. I guess that one back fired on me! The thing that gets me, is the tech saw what I was talking about, said he'd take another look at it, then ordered the part from Chrysler and sent along pics of my truck to "see if they'd still cover it". A shop that's looking out for the best interest of the consumer would've just called for the part. There is no way having swaybar disconnects impedes the functionality of that box. If it were, all Rubicons wouldn't have them as a standard feature.

 

[HooliganActual]

Very well said! I'm about the same way. I would've just made the adjustment myself after watching the YT video, but I thought so long as it was under warranty, let them deal with it. I guess that one back fired on me! The thing that gets me, is the tech saw what I was talking about, said he'd take another look at it, then ordered the part from Chrysler and sent along pics of my truck to "see if they'd still cover it". A shop that's looking out for the best interest of the consumer would've just called for the part. There is no way having swaybar disconnects impedes the functionality of that box. If it were, all Rubicons wouldn't have them as a standard feature.

You know the sad thing about this scenario? Now, I'm a Realist which means I'm an Optimist with prior experience. I wanna believe the best in a situation but life has shown me otherwise...

What do you want to bet, that they will come back and say "voided warranty" (which is BS), charge you for the work and still file the warranty claim to FCA in order to double dip. I don't believe for a single second that that kind of stuff doesn't happen with non-warranty work performed on vehicles within their factory warranty period.

Dealerships, in general, should really try to change their image on both the service side and the sales side.

PSA TO EVERYONE:
Prevent dealerships from double dipping by always demanding the failed part back whenever they perform so-called "Non-Warranty" work. Dealerships have told me that in order to get the warranty reimbursement they have to send the part back to FCA. Maybe that was a lie too but it can't hurt...

 

[GrubbyBaja]

... so I thought I would get them to adjust it.

From what I've read, that adjustment is not a factory authorized adjustment. The original TSB associated with the original aluminum gearbox called for the gearbox replacement with a steel unit. I'm pretty sure the steel gearbox unit is also not factory authorized to be field adjusted.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

. He agreed to take another look at it. He decided he didn't feel comfortable making an adjustment

If anyone knows anything about these steering gear, they'd understand that dealer guy was 150% correct. You do not willy-nilly "adjust" those while in the vehicle. It's a PRELOAD setting.
you set the preload of the one shaft, and then you adjust the pitman preload based on the first and to do that, it's got to be disconnected from the steering column and the linkage below.
To simply turn the screw is a shade-tree internet thing that typically works for some but it's not because they know what they are doing or why or what that adjustment even does inside the box.
And dealer tech that said "yeah, I'll turn that and take the slop out" would never work on my vehicles again.
Me - I know what's involved and exactly what that screw does and why, but to have someone in a dealership just turn it to take play out and not really knowing where the real problem is?
For all you know, the issue is somewhere else - and this is like the internet saying if your car won't start, your battery must be bad and if the battery is low, then you need to replace the alternator.
That is a PRELOAD and being trained in such things over the years, I have books that show what's going on - and it's a multiple paragraph process. Get it wrong and get the steering gear hot and you ain't gonna turn when you really need it to turn.
Why not first check for a loose pitman nut, loose linkage - tie rods, drag link and so on, and find exactly where the play is.
IF there is indeed excess play in the steering gear - they've got to take things apart and follow the prescribed process for setting that preload............ or risk trouble.

 

[574jeeprider]

If anyone knows anything about these steering gear, they'd understand that dealer guy was 150% correct. You do not willy-nilly "adjust" those while in the vehicle. It's a PRELOAD setting.
you set the preload of the one shaft, and then you adjust the pitman preload based on the first and to do that, it's got to be disconnected from the steering column and the linkage below.
To simply turn the screw is a shade-tree internet thing that typically works for some but it's not because they know what they are doing or why or what that adjustment even does inside the box.
And dealer tech that said "yeah, I'll turn that and take the slop out" would never work on my vehicles again.
Me - I know what's involved and exactly what that screw does and why, but to have someone in a dealership just turn it to take play out and not really knowing where the real problem is?
For all you know, the issue is somewhere else - and this is like the internet saying if your car won't start, your battery must be bad and if the battery is low, then you need to replace the alternator.
That is a PRELOAD and being trained in such things over the years, I have books that show what's going on - and it's a multiple paragraph process. Get it wrong and get the steering gear hot and you ain't gonna turn when you really need it to turn.
Why not first check for a loose pitman nut, loose linkage - tie rods, drag link and so on, and find exactly where the play is.
IF there is indeed excess play in the steering gear - they've got to take things apart and follow the prescribed process for setting that preload............ or risk trouble.

I'm not faulting the service tech for not wanting to make the adjustments, just saying if he called for the part to be replaced under warranty, why make me pay the diag fee? If you know this much about the inner workings of this steering system, then you will know that having sway bar disconnects do not cause harm to this box. Yeah, why doesn't he look for the things you said to be loose, this is under warranty and I shouldn't have to crawl under there to fix the slop that came this way from the dealership.

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